Cocaine is a powerful Central Nervous System stimulant. It's a chemical derived from the leaf of the Erythroxylon coca bush, which grows primarily in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia.
Cocaine was first extracted and identified in the mid-19th century and was then used in patent medicines and tonics to treat a wide variety of symptoms - real or imagined. Because of its stimulating effect, many people in the late 19th century took cocaine, even though some doctors recognized that users quickly became dependent. It later found common usage as a local anesthetic for minor surgery but this role today is fairly limited as synthetic anesthetics are more widely used. Cocaine has no other medicinal application.
In the 1970's and 1980's the high cost of cocaine and its rarity in the illicit marketplace meant that it was regarded as a drug of wealthy people such as rock stars or film stars. In the 1990's it has become relatively inexpensive and easier to buy. The street price of cocaine in the UK is (as of mid-1999) as low as 40 Pounds Sterling per gram and its low cost, easy availability and (false) reputation as a non-addictive drug has led to widespread use among young people, where 9% of those aged 20-24 who were asked in 1998 said they had taken it.
Cocaine is generally sold on the street as cocaine hydrochloride - a fine, white crystalline powder, soluble in water, known by slang names such as "coke", "C", "Charlie" etc. It is often cut with inert substances such as talcum powder or fine sugar; with other local anesthetics such as procaine and benzocaine, or other stimulants such as amphetamines. Nevertheless, street cocaine has become purer in recent years and today averages around 60% or more pure.
Cocaine in powder form is usually sniffed, or "snorted", up the nose through a rolled-up bank note or any other similar type of tube, after a line of the powder (about the size of a large matchstick) has been spread out on a smooth surface - commonly a mirror. To experience cocaine's effects more rapidly and to heighten their intensity, some users inject the drug directly into their veins.
Crack cocaine
 Crack cocaine
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 Pipes for smoking crack
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Pure cocaine is a chemical 'base'. A base can combine with an acid - in this case hydrochloric acid - to form a salt. Cocaine hydrochloride is a salt of cocaine. This powdered form of cocaine is soluble in water and so can be snorted, where it dissolves into the blood system via small capillaries in the nostrils, or injected into a vein.
The cocaine hydrochloride salt can be changed back into its base form by a fairly simple chemical process. This is called 'free basing' and is potentially dangerous because the solvents used are highly flammable. The resulting form of cocaine is called 'free base' - or crack - and takes the shape of relatively large crystals. It's pure cocaine (i.e. without the
hydrochloride) and as it is not soluble in water, it must be smoked in order to be taken. It's called 'Crack' because it makes a crackling noise as it is smoked.
Crack is absorbed into the body much faster than when cocaine powder is snorted and therefore it takes effect very quickly. It's a very powerful form of cocaine and is highly addictive. It has become fairly common in the UK since the mid 1980's.
Cocaine - like most drugs - acts on neurotransmitters in the body. These are chemical messengers that send signals between one nerve cell and an adjacent one. Some neurotransmitters switch nerve cells on - or speed them up, some switch nerve cells off - or slow them down. If any chemical - such as a drug - interferes with these neurotransmitters, this can have all sorts of consequences.
Cocaine interfers with the normal action of at least two neurotransmitters, one is Seretonin and the other is Dopamine. When cocaine is taken - in any form - brain activity speeds up, as does heart rate and breathing rate. Blood pressure increases and so does body temperature. Physical symptoms of cocaine use may include chest pain, nausea, blurred vision, fever and muscle spasms. These symptoms result from an overworked heart and high blood pressure.
| What effect does it have? |
Generally, cocaine produces feelings of mental well-being and exhilaration. A user may feel
energetic, talkative and mentally alert - especially to sensations of sight, sound, and touch. At the same time cocaine inhibits appetite and the desire for sleep. In some respects the effect of cocaine is grossly similar to that of amphetamines and like those drugs, cocaine use can produce anxiety or panic attacks. The after-effects of cocaine can include tiredness and depression. Excessive doses can sometimes cause death from heart failure.
Short-term effects
When cocaine is snorted, its euphoric effects appear soon after it is taken, peak in about 15-30 minutes and disappear completely within one half to two hours. As the 'high' is short-lasting, this often encourages users to repeat the dose in order to maintain the effect. It's common for cocaine users to take cocaine again after about half an hour or so after they last took some. Many repeated doses taken over a short period can lead to extreme states of agitation, anxiety or paranoia.
The compulsion to repeat cocaine use is even more evident when the drug is taken as crack. The effects of crack cocaine occur and peak immediately the drug is smoked and begin to fade shortly afterwards. Crack users commonly repeat the dose at short intervals in an attempt to maintain the 'high'.
When large amounts of cocaine are taken (several hundred milligrams or more) the 'high' is intensified up to a point, but such doses can also lead to bizarre, erratic and violent behavior. These users may experience severe tremors, vertigo, muscle twitches and paranoia.
Longer-term effects
If cocaine is taken over a period of time, users experience the drug's long-term effects. The euphoric 'high' is gradually replaced by restlessness, extreme excitability, insomnia, and paranoia - and eventually hallucinations and delusions. These conditions are very similar to amphetamine psychosis and paranoid schizophrenia, although they disappear in most cases after cocaine use is ended.
While many of the physical effects of heavy continuous use are essentially the same as those of short-term use, the heavy user may also suffer from mood swings, loss of interest in sex, weight loss and insomnia.
Tolerance
Tolerance to any drug exists when it becomes necessary to take higher doses to achieve the same effects once reached with lower doses. At present there is no evidence to suggest tolerance to cocaine's stimulant effect occurs. Users may keep taking the original amount over extended periods and still experience the same euphoric effects. However, some users do increase their dosage in an attempt to intensify and prolong the effects.
| Consequences of cocaine use |
Physical dependence
At present, it's unclear if physical dependence upon cocaine hydrochloride can occur. However, when some regular heavy users stop taking the drug, they experience a powerful negative reaction, which may indicate physical dependence.
Crack cocaine does produce a strong physical dependency. With regular heavy use increasingly unpleasant symptoms occur. Euphoria is replaced by restlessness, over-excitability and nausea. With continued use this can lead to paranoid psychosis. Regular users may appear chronically nervous, excitable and paranoid. Confusion as a result of exhaustion, due to lack of sleep, is common.
Psychological dependence
Psychological dependence exists when a drug is so central to a person's thoughts, emotions, and activities that it becomes a craving or compulsion. Among heavy cocaine users, an intense
psychological dependence can occur; they suffer severe depression when the supply of cocaine runs out, which lifts only when they take it again. Experiments with animals have suggested that cocaine is perhaps the most powerful drug of all in producing psychological dependence.
When not taking cocaine, many regular users complain of sleep and eating disorders, depression and anxiety, and the mental craving for the drug often compels them to take it again.
Consequences for health
- Death from a cocaine overdose can occur from convulsions, heart failure, or the depression of vital brain centres that control breathing.
- Chronic cocaine snorting often causes stuffiness, runny nose and eczema, and commonly damages the nasal membranes and the structure separating the nostrils.
- Severe respiratory tract irritation has been noted in some heavy users of crack cocaine.
- Users who inject the drug not only risk overdosing but also getting infections from unsterile needles and hepatitis or AIDS from needles shared with others.
- The risk to mental health of using cocaine is high. As mentioned above, regular use can lead to anxiety, paranoia and psychosis - which can sometimes produce permanent mental health problems.
Legal consequences
Cocaine in any form is a Class A drug. It is illegal to produce, supply or possess it. It is also illegal to allow premises to be used for the supply, production or consumption of cocaine. Penalties are high.
Cocaine is not a cheap drug and it is expensive to maintain a regular intake. Many regular users resort to crime of one kind or another to fund their drug use. Obviously, such behaviour can result in a criminal record or imprisonment.
Click here to see information on chemical dependency, including cocaine dependence.
